Once again, our annual pre-Detroit Auto Show karting battle royale at Kart2Kart in Sterling Heights was a huge hit. Maybe our best one yet.

By our count we had 96 people racing and somewhere between 150 and 200 car enthusiasts and their friends hanging out, eating pizza, chatting about things that go fast and doing the occasional Jalopnik-sanctioned parking lot burnout.

But the main event, of course, was the karting tournament. Our champion this year was Scott DeForest, with a second-place finish by Chris Stoglin, and a third-place finish by friend of the site Anthony Magagnoli (and someone I deputized as a Jalopnik “writer”, not expecting him to beat nearly everyone.) And the fastest writer trophy went to actual contributor Mark “Bark M.” Baruth. I’ll update with lap times when I get them.

This event was a blast and it was all thanks to you fine people, the best community of car people on the whole damn internet. Last night I met a guy who works at General Motors and pressed the start button on the production line to make the Camaro SS he owns; a gentleman with a fine E36 rally car; 5-year-old kart racer Kamille Fitzpatrick (who, when I asked what she likes about karting, said “I love to win”); four car designers who work in the industry; a bunch of familiar faces from previous events; and one guy who told me what it’s like to go karting on mushrooms. Granted, it was Jason Torchinsky, but still.

We even had guest appearances by Mark Stevenson from The Truth About Cars and the lads from Carfection, who held on mightily despite intense jet lag after flying in from the United Kingdom.

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Again, a huge thanks to everyone who braved freezing Michigan weather and came out, and to our gracious hosts at Kart2Kart. We’ll be back next year—or sooner, with any luck.